FoundersNothing Has Spawned as Much Confusion and Misinformation Surrounding Hip Dysplasia as the Misinterpretation of Heritability. ‘Heritability’ is a statistical concept used in quantitative genetics and selective breeding. Used properly it tells a breeder how to choose breeding animals that are likely to produce improvements in important traits. On the other hand, misinterpreting…
Health
Your Dog’s Environment Did Not Make It Dysplastic Barring a traumatic injury, if a dog doesn’t have the genes for Hip Dysplasia it’s hips will develop normally. It’s all over the Internet. “Information” about how the environment makes puppies become dysplastic. Too much food, the wrong food, jumping, climbing, too much exercise, not…
October Setters
Cross-posted from our own blog. OFA X-Rays Are Not Difficult! To our amazement, and disappointment, the biggest obstacle to our hip program has been, and continues to be, veterinarians. Although a majority of vets have been supportive and helpful, our puppy buyers regularly encounter resistance when they ask for the hip x-rays we…
I’ve been receiving a lot of inquiries regarding the news about reports of possible diet related Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM). The reports are pretty scary and people are justifiably wondering what they should do. So, I’ve spent some time reading up on it. Useful Info First, here is a veterinarian oriented paper on the…
Is Elbow Dysplasia a concern in the Ryman-type setter? Although Hip Dysplasia (HD) is the most well known inherited health problem in English setters, it certainly is not the only serious disease we need to guard against, and Elbow Dysplasia is a prime example. Much of what we will discuss in our continuing…
“Do all dysplastic dogs have pain?” This question cannot be answered with absolute certainty. However it can be said with confidence that hip dysplasia does cause pain for most, if not all, dogs that are affected by it. In our last post on hip dysplasia (HD) we pointed out how the severity of…
Parker Hollow SettersIn line with our philosophy of doing everything we can to produce healthy puppies, we wanted to BAER test our recent litter. In talking with other breeders, one of the things that precludes many breeders is having testing available in their area. As we were getting through the weaning stage, I started to plan puppy shots as…